Magazine 2/2010 - Emma

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Talkingof red” Red is perhaps themost diverse and eloquentof all colours and for thatreason the most living”Carolus EnckellArtistCarolus Enckellinterviewed byPäivi KarttunenPhotosAri Karttunen,Milja LaurilaPäivi Karttunen: Let’s talk about the colour redin art. You mentioned Fra Angelico, Breugheland Barnett Newman, when I asked you whichartist comes first to mind when you think aboutthe use of red in art. Why these three?Carolus Enckell: Because they all used itinterestingly, differently, metaphorically. FraAngelico, in my opinion, used it to symbolisethe divine state, as an expression of gentledevoutness on the faces of people in hispaintings. For Breughel red, or more correctlyorange-red, portrays the profane life, somethingmundane, close to man, whereas BarnettNewman, contrary to the other two, createscolour. For Newman, colour is a pure state,something archaic into which you can becomesubmerged.PK: You’re a painter and use a lot of red inyour work. You’ve said that this was due to yourvisit to Morocco in the 1970s. You experiencedMorocco as a country of red landscapes thatappealed to your senses. How did your relationshipto the colour red begin?CE: Largely because I felt that the characterof red was more dominant than any other colour.More than others it makes a statement– it has authority, it has the widest register ofall colours, the most hues. Perhaps the onlyother colour that can compete with it is green.Another source of red came from my interestin Kasimir Malevich and his Suprematism –the symbol of revolution. Perhaps not in thepolitical sense but as a symbol of change, thenecessity for spiritual growth, just as whitesymbolised for him eternity.PK: Now and then you have titled your workswith references to certain artists. Let’s get backto the reds of Fra Angelico and Breughel andyour creative work.CE: In some of my works I’ve used Lefranc& Bourgeois’s oil paints with names like FraAngelico Red, Uccello Red and Breughel Red.I presume the object of the company was tosimulate these artists’ reds in their paints. Thishas made me think whether the viewer is ableto associate these colours with the relevant art-The Saastamoinen Foundation’s new hanging around the theme of Red is now showing at EMMA.8
ists. The works in which I use these titles aresimultaneously both question and proposition.How do you think aboutcolour and colour theory?CE: If you mean the ”colour theories” used inart schools and intended to be applied to practicalworking, their structure is not based onany theory, neither are they abstract in character,but based to a large extent on seeing,observation.This could be called the empirical method ofseeing colours as artistic tools. Hence teaching,not theory. Colour theories come from theworld of physics.You mention two traditions ofcolour theory. What are they?CE: To my mind the first is the so-called analyticalmethod based on the observations ofNewton and Chevreul concerning the relationshipbetween light and colour. This was furtherdeveloped by the Neo-Impressionists whodivided light into coloured segments (divisionism),bringing about an optical colour mixturein the eye. This meant that colour was used torecreate light.The second theory stems from Romanticismand Goethe, which attempts to create coloursvia observation. Josef Albers’s view is a systematicdevelopment of this.What is your theory of colour?CE: My view is based on the colours of myimagination. The colours that take shape inme, ie, the colours that become independentvalues without observable models.PK: You have been teaching at the FreeArt School for a long time now. What has thismeant to you most?CE: The school and its pedagogical content.For me it has meant not only excellent teachingmethods but a kind of all-round university educationin art history with a special emphasison modern painting, yet not forgetting classicalpainting. In addition the school has functionedas a creative forum on issues relating to thearts.In the 1970s, the Free Art School was thefirst art school to organise long-term colourteaching. This was based on Josef Albers’sideas. The courses were attended by peoplefrom outside the school and from other artschools. The School published a translation ofAlbers’s book so other schools could arrangecourses on the subject. Colour theory coursesare no longer compulsory or play a central rolein teaching. Goethe’s theory of colour, however,is still taught at the School.
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Magazine 2/2010 - Emma

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